LeBron James’ Entourage, Legendary Nike Shoe Designer Tinker Hatfield Butting Heads

You’re only as good as the company you keep.

If you’re LeBron James, the company you keep pisses off the company you work with.

“I don’t like working with LeBron’s entourage,” Hatfield said. “It’s too many people, too many ideas, too many opinions.”

Tinker Hatfield, the “Michael Jordan of shoe design” has once again taken a shot at LeBron’s entourage. Hatfield, the main designer on the first generations of James’ shoes in 2003, had stopped working with the Heat start in 2008, to focus on Kobe Bryant’s shoes and the Jordan Brand.

“[Working with Bryant] one guy comes into the room with him and he has ideas and is very forward thinking and is smart about what he needs to do, what he thinks he needs to do to be a better player,” Hatfield said last week.

“LeBron is a great guy, I really like him, but when he comes into the room and he’s got like eight other guys saying things,” he added. “That is one reason why the LeBron stuff, even though it does OK, it isn’t quite as exciting to me as the Kobe stuff or what we’ve done with the Jordan Brand.”

Check out the video below.